Background: A new shooting outrage in Northern Ireland. In Belfast today (Monday), a sniper killed a British soldier guarding an observation post atop a three-storey building. It brought the death toll in the latest bout off violence in the province to 31. The soldier came from one of the hardest hit British units in Northern Ireland -- the Royal Greenjackets' First Battalion. The post he was guarding was on top of the battalion headquarters. An immediate widespread search started for the sniper.

In the meantime, political dissension in the troubled British province showed little sign of improving. Opposition members of Stormont, the Northern Ireland parliament, reinforced their boycott of parliamentary proceedings by travelling south for discussions in Dublin. There they met the Irish Republic's Prime Minister Jack Lynch to discuss plans for passive resistance. Mr. Lynch has promised support if Britain uses what he calls military rather than political means to solve the Northern Ireland crisis.